The scene echoed the funeral of Mags’s husband John in 2005, which she attended in handcuffs while serving a sentence for drug dealing.

Mags will be buried next to husband John (Image: James Stewart/Iain McLellan/Spindrift)

Yesterday, about 200 friends and family attended the mass at St Mary’s Church in Stirling, close to the Raploch estate where Mags and her brood gained notoriety as heroin pushers.

Her coffin was piped into the church to the strains of Flower of Scotland as several police cars circled the area.

Many mourners wept as a eulogy read by granddaughter Nicola Hutchison paid tribute to a “very loving and caring grandmother” – while avoiding mention of Mags’s life of crime.

Nicola said: “Nana’s rather large family provided her with lots of grandchildren.

“She took on that role very well. She was a very loving and caring grandmother.

“Mags enjoyed living with her family on the Raploch estate, where she became known and had many friends. She had a kind heart.”

Nicola added: “Straight to the point was my Nana.

“She would say anything to protect her children – that was just her.

“She talked about writing her own book with stories from her life. I think it would have been a good book.

“She touched people’s lives in many different ways.”

Grandson Kevin Boon (Image: Daily Record)

The 70-year-old, who lost her fight against cancer last week, made £1000 a day from the misery of drug addicts – while also pocketing £1200 a month in benefits – before the Record exposed her empire in 2000.

She was later jailed for 12 years, while daughter Diane was sentenced to nine years, niece Roseann to seven years and Hugh to five years.

The mum of 11 – two of whom died in infancy – and grandmother of 48 had beaten cervical cancer while she was in Cornton Vale prison in Stirling but was later diagnosed with lung cancer, which spread to her brain.

Father Kenneth Owens told mourners: “I’m sure, as people gather together today, they are reminded of the love that radiated from Margaret, that she shared with her family and friends.”

Mag's son Hugh hugs a mourner as grandson James Cowan follows

Another granddaughter, Cassie, read a poem titled I Thought Of You With Love Today.

After the service, Big Mags’s coffin was carried from the church to the sounds of Walk With Me, Oh My Lord – and the clanging of the chains of her convict clan members who followed behind.

Hume, 18, was jailed last year for a vicious scissors attack that left a man with hand and head wounds.

Hugh and Boon are also serving sentences while Cowan is on remand.

The service was followed by a burial at St Thomas’s Well ­Cemetery in Cambusbarron, near Stirling, where Big Mags was laid to rest in the same plot as her late husband.

Haney's son Hugh (Image: Dailt Record)

Virgil Crawford and Stephen Maguire, two of the lawyers who represented members of the Haney clan for years, also attended the funeral.

In the 1990s, Big Mags set herself up as an anti-paedophile campaigner in the Raploch.

But after her drug-dealing reign of terror was revealed, a sheriff described the Haneys as a “family from hell” who inflicted “misery for many years”.

Mags, who served six years in jail, moved to Alva, Clackmannanshire, after her release.